


Laws of Motion

by tinderbox210



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-07
Updated: 2015-02-07
Packaged: 2018-03-10 23:11:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3306863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinderbox210/pseuds/tinderbox210
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I don’t think it’s a good idea if you go out with him”, Jake blurted out before he could stop himself. He wasn’t sure why he felt the urge to voice his opinion, no one seemed to share his concerns.<br/>He was not jealous, just to make that clear! He was just worried about Cassandra as a friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laws of Motion

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first story I post on this site and my first writing for the Librarians. English is not my primary language so it’s probably full of mistakes and pretty lame. Sorry. Also I hope my characterization is not too OOC.

Jake had read the same text passage about the historical development of the four canonical painting modes of the Renaissance for the third time within the last couple of minutes and still couldn’t remember what it was about. Usually he had no problem memorizing historical data, but tonight it seemed almost impossible to concentrate on anything with Baird and Cassandra constantly giggling like mad school girls. Whenever he tried to get back at reading a new round of giggles burst through the Annex and made him groan out in frustration.

More than once his gaze travelled involuntarily over the banister to the floor below where both women were standing together and working on perfecting Cassandra’s outfit for the evening. It reminded him of the people in his hometown doll up their cattle for public sale. The slender redhead wore a dark blue dress with delicate embroidery while the Colonel twisted her hair into a fancy put-up hairdo holding it in place with two chopsticks.

Before anyone would catch him staring, Jake quickly averted his eyes and turned his attention back to the back to book in his hands, glaring at it in annoyance since it didn’t distract him enough to not steal more glances at the redhead. Seeing Cassandra in a dress or skirt was nothing new, but he’d never seen her wearing anything quite so exquisite and it was starting to mess with his head in a way he wasn’t ready to deal with. Maybe her wearing the dress wouldn’t even bother him so much, if it wasn’t a gift by this stupid prince!

He couldn’t help the trace of annoyance flooding his system as he remembered the last couple of days that had led to this. Frankly it had started very simple with a new article about strange sightings of a sphinx appearing in the clipping book of the Library which had sent the three librarians along with Baird to Casablanca to figure out what was going on, stop whatever magical threat was responsible for it and save the very handsome Moroccan prince in the progress who’d taken a liking in Cassandra.

Not that Jake could blame him – she was just that kind of person that sneaked up on you whether you really wanted it or not. Easy to like, easy to admire. But that didn’t mean any prince coming along had to take her out for dinner, did it?

Grumping to himself he shut the book a little more forceful than necessary and made his way down the stairs. While Baird helped Cassandra, Ezekiel lounged at the table in the middle of the room playing on his cellphone and with his feet popped up on the tabletop – not something Jenkins would approve off if he were around at the moment, but the old man was nowhere to be seen.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea if you go out with him”, Jake blurted out before he could stop himself. He wasn’t sure why he felt the urge to voice his opinion, no one seemed to share his concerns.

He was not jealous, just to make that clear! He was just worried about Cassandra as a friend.

Sure, they had a rocky start, but so much had happened since her initial betrayal and she’d earned his trust back. Even when he had claimed he didn’t trust her, he’d still trusted her ability and shared his issue with his family with her which he’d never shared with anyone before. Which made him wonder retrospectively if he’d just been protesting too much all the times he had stressed not to trust her because of his bruised ego.

All eyes turned on him and Jake quickly fumbled for an explanation. “We’re still not sure he didn’t have anything to do with the sphinx’s wrath.” He looked at Ezekiel for help and slapped his leg to catch the boy’s attention. He barely looked up from his phone, too consumed by searching the internet for something worth stealing. Or “liberating” as Ezekiel liked to call it.

“Stone’s right,” the younger man said, pointing at Cassandra. “He probably just wants to take you on a magic carpet ride.” Cassandra’s eyes went wide as the meaning of his implication hit her and her cheeks colored deep red. Jake looked at Ezekiel incredulously about his lack of tack and shoved his feet off the table, hard enough to make the boy almost fall out of his chair. “What?” Ezekiel protested in annoyance. “We’re not at the point where we’re making bad jokes?”

“Just ignore those idiots, Cassandra”, Baird chipped in, rolling her eyes at both men and placed her hands on Cassandra’s small shoulders in a calming manner. “It’s going to be fine. The prince is nice, trust me, I can see that. And you deserve a night off.”

Jake couldn’t really argue here. Of course Eve was right – Cassandra deserved a night off more than any of them. With a prince who was handsome and charming and rich and… annoying and arrogant and just not half as trustworthy as Baird claimed him to be…

“It’s just that it’s no good idea to get distracted while in the middle of an investigation”, Jake pressed on, wanting to kick himself for speaking up again as he knew very well he was just making a fool out of himself.

“Well, you didn’t mind the distraction with Mabel”, Casandra pointed out and instantly pressed her mouth together tightly like she regretted her words the moment they left her lips. Her eyes looked apologetic as she held Jake’s gaze from across the room.

He tensed at the mention of the woman’s name who had died in his arms not so long ago and fell silent as he watched Baird put the final touches to Cassandra’s outfit before activating the backdoor of the Annex and opening the portal to the prince’s palace.

Before stepping through the portal Cassandra turned back to the others, an uncertain tight smile on her lips as she let her eyes wander from one face to the next. Baird gave her an encouraging thumbs up while Ezekiel asked her to keep an eye out for the “good stuff” which meant the stuff worth stealing. Her gaze lasted a little longer on Jake than the others, almost like she waited for him to speak up again, but he stayed silent this time. With a frown she turned around again to face the door and brace her shoulders like a quarterback getting ready for the game, before she disappeared through the portal.

Jake kept staring at the door even after it had closed with a hollow feeling building in his chest. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Ezekiel jump up from his chair, rub his hands together and head towards the exit of the Annex. “I’m going to get pizza.” Eve followed him, but then turned in the other direction and headed for the gym.

Jake stayed back.

As much as he felt the need to punch something, he wasn’t keen on following Baird and probably having to explain to her why he was acting so unusual grumpy. He wasn’t sure he had a plausible explanation – or at least he wasn’t ready to admit the most likely one.

Looking down at his hands he realized he was still holding the art book he’d been reading before and climbed the stairs up to put it back in its place on one of the shelves. Jenkins hated when they didn’t respect his regime and didn’t put the things back where they belonged.

As he looked at the old books on the shelves, brushing his fingers over the worn out leather bindings while reading the authors’ names – some of them not even he had heard of before -, he came to a simple solution to his current problem. If Cassandra could have a night off, so could he! Maybe he should go to the next bar, get a cold beer and play some pool.

When he emerged between the shelves to head for the exit, he stopped in his tracks as he noticed with surprise that Cassandra was already back at the Annex. Her back was turned to the stairway, so he couldn’t see the expression on her face. She couldn’t have been gone longer than five minutes but in his experience that was enough time for a date to go wrong. He cleared his throat to make his presence known. Cassandra twirled around looking startled with wide eyes like she hadn’t expected anyone to be there.

“Back so soon?” Jake asked while he continued to move down the stairs.

Cassandra smiled uncertain. “Yes.” It sounded more like a question than an answer with her voice a little too high-pitched. She cleared her throat. “I mean no. I didn’t really go through with it.”

“You mean you’re standing up a prince?” He joked in hope to lighten her mood. He tried to keep his voice neutral as possible, but he couldn’t deny the relief flooding through his system and the satisfaction of picturing the prince waiting in vain for Cassandra to show up.

Her eyes widened in horror. “When you put it that way it sounds even more awful.” With her shoulders slouched she walked across the room to sit down at the large table.

“I’m sorry. Why did you change your mind?” Jake wanted to know. “Because of what Ezekiel and I said? You know we were just talking trash, right?”

Cassandra nodded and looked down at her hands, her fingers fidgeting with the folds of her dress. “I know. No, it wasn’t about you … not really … it’s because of me. I’m not very good at this whole … dating thing.” She sighed. Her voice was filled with a sadness that immediately tugged at Jake’s heart. He took a step forward but hesitated to get closer, unsure if she expected him to comfort her or give her some space. He should keep his distance, he had reasons. Good ones. But being alone with her under the soft light of the old lanterns of the Annex, it was getting difficult to remember them.

“I was on the way to the prince and I couldn’t even come up with an interesting topic of conversation. I probably would have ended talking about nothing but math the whole time which is just not a good topic for a first date. Or any date in general.” She explained while she titled her head to take the chopsticks out and let her hair fall in soft waves on her shoulder. For a moment Jake was mesmerized by the sight of the Annex’s dim light casting a warm glow on the red hair and illuminating her porcelain skin looking like one of Botticelli’s angels. Again he caught himself staring at her for a little too long. Did she even know what she was doing to him when she looked like this?

He snapped out of his trance as she spoke again: “He would have been just bored.”

“Then he would be have been stupid”, Jake blurted out, not doubt in his mind that any guy would be happy to listen to her talking about math and science for the rest of their life. He might not understand much of it, but he wouldn’t want to miss the expression on her face whenever she talked about it with such strong devotion rivaling his own level of passion for art, making her eyes light up like the sky on a cloudless night and making him think of Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

Cassandra’s eyes widened a bit as she studied him from the side, rolling the chopsticks between her fingers. “I mean the way you talk about math. It even makes someone like me who’s never been much of a math crack in school want to pick up a book about Fourier analysis once in a while”, he tried to explain. He felt his neck heat up under her curious gaze and rubbed it awkwardly before shoving his hands into the pocket of his jeans because he didn’t know what else to do with them.

A wispy smile crossed Cassandra’s face that didn’t meet her eyes. “But it’s not even a normal date”, she sighed. “It’s a date with a real prince! With servants and a palace as big as the Taj Mahal and so much responsibility for his country. That is all too much. I barely know how to be a librarian, how would I not fail his expectations?”

“It’s just a date, Cassie”, Jake tried to remind her and used her nickname in hope to soothe her.

“I know, but then…“ She took a deep breath before continuing. Her eyes roamed around the Annex like they were looking for some sign, some answer she couldn’t find in her own mind. It briefly made Jake worry she would have one of her “hallucinations” and it made him want to reach out and steady her like how it had become his first instinct whenever her ability made her lose control.

He could try to fool himself all he wanted, but there was no denying how often he ended up standing beside the girl, much closer than necessary. He could try to convince himself it was just to protect her as a friend or keep an eye on her, but his 190 intellect was too smart to miss the truth - she got under his skin. Dangerously close to that part of his heart he usually kept locked away safely, because when he fell, he fell hard. With no going back. And he couldn’t risk it – not with their freshly rebuild trust, not with the brain grape…

“I couldn’t stop thinking about that if this date goes great, if things would end up getting serious, I would have to tell him about the brain grape eventually and that’s the point where it always ends. No one wants to be with someone who has a death sentence on their head. No one wants to take that risk.”

Jake winced, but Cassandra didn’t seem to notice. She placed the chopsticks on the table and stood up. She folded her hands behind her back as she faced him. “So what were you doing here all by yourself?” She asked in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

Jake scratched his ear and pointed over his shoulder towards the door. “Oh, I was just going to head out to the next bar to play some pool.”

“I can play pool.” Cassandra confessed. “In fact I’m pretty good at it.”

Jake’s eyebrows shot up as he couldn’t really picture Cassandra playing billiards. Or enter a smoke-filled filthy bar smelling of alcohol and sweat by free choice unless she was playing Prince Charming again. “You are?”

“Well it’s basically just a combination of vectors and power transmission based on Newton’s laws of motion-”

“Oh no, no, no”, he immediately interrupted her with his hands held up. “It’s much more than that. It is talent and intuition and a lifetime of experience. You can’t just calculate it.”

“I bet I can beat you.” Cassandra said with an awful lot of confidence in her voice, the challenge lighting up her eyes with a mischievous twinkle that made his heartbeat sped up a little faster. He couldn’t stop the grin spreading across his face as he motioned towards the door.

“Alright, then you better prove it!”

 


End file.
